Controlling means for electric circuits.



No. 677,826. Patented My 2, I90l.

- n. VARLEY, m. CONTROLLING IEANS FOBEEEGTRIG CIRCUITS.

(Application filed Aug. 16, 1900.)

(In lodal.)'

[Mentor UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

RICHARD VAR'LEY, JR., on JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

CONTROLLING MEANS FOR ELECTRIC CIRCUITS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 677,826, dated July 2,1901.

Application filed August 16,1900. Serial No. 27,031. (No model.)

action of a device or circuit to be controlled."

7 It is well known that controlling devices which depend for theirproper operation princ'ipally upon the movements ofmechanicallyoperatingvparts, especially when these are of considerablesize, are unsuitable for use in electrical testing devices or apparatus,for the reason that they are not sensitive enough to respondinstantaneously when brought into action. The inertia of parts ofconsiderable .size, the resistance of the air to the movements thereof,and various other features combine to prevent the immediate response ofany such part to the force tending to operate the same, and it is onlyby making use of a device which will have but slight inertia and willoppose but little resistance to the air that a practically instantaneousmovement of the part to be controlled can be obtained. One of theprincipal uses for such a sensitive controlling device as this is inconnection with meters-such, for example, as galvanometers fordetermining accurately the resistance of a conductor or of a circuit. Itis frequently desirable in using a galvanometer to determine an unknownresistance in an electric bridge to employ in connection with thegalvanometer means for indicating instantaneously in some other mannerthan by the reading of the galvanometer-scale the exact moment at whicha variable unknown resistance balances the known resistance ofthebridge-circuit and also to stop the intercalation of resistance intothe circuit at the instant that the resistances of the bridge-circuitare balanced. These results I accomplish by means of an improvedcontrollingdevicewhich is very sensitive in its action and the movementsof which are dependent upon variations either in the amperage or voltageof the current or in the resistance of the circuit in which the willstrain the dielectric between it and the separated circuit-terminals tothe point of rupture, and thus produce a disruptive discharge betweensuch terminals, which dis charge will form a conducting pathdependentsolely upon the electrostatic tension at such point and not in any wayupon 'mere mechanical contact of the relatively movable terminals. Thisdevice will usually be embodied in and constitute the essential featureof a relay which is not, however, of the ordinary type, but is what Iterm a sparkrelay,. and will make and break the local circuit not byactual contact of metallic terminals, but by varying the resistance ofthe air-gap separating the terminals of such local circuit. This localcircuit will be made whenever the controlling device governing the sameapproaches near enough to the terminals of such local circuit to lowerthe re sistance of the air-gap to a point Where a charge from a suitablesource of electric energy controlling the local circuit will jump theair-gap and complete the local circuit by forming a spark between suchterminals.

In the'drawings accompanying this specification and forming part of thepresent application, Figure 1 illustrates diagrammatically controllingmeans embodying my present invention and properly connected in circuitfor governing a circuit or device to be controlled thereby; and Fig. 2and 3 are enlarged do tails illustrating the spark-contact device orspark-relay by means of which such circuit or device to be governed iscontrolled, the parts being shown in side and end elevation.

My invention is embodied in any electrical system or circuit in whichtwo terminals con= trolling the making or breaking of the circuit areseparated by an air-gap or spark-gap which is closed by suitable meansfor producing a disruptive discharge between such terminals and forminga conducting-path of gas and metallic vapors or particles ofsu'fiiciently-low resistance to permit sparking between the separatedterminals. These separated terminals may be of any suitable type and maybe connected in any circuit adapted to permit the passage of a currentof sufficiently-high tension to produce a disruptive discharge betweenthe terminals when the resistance of the spark-gap separating them islowered to the proper extent. Here said terminals are indicated by'zfand t, respectively, and may be strips of copper or other suitableconducting material. Preferably these terminals will be separated notonly by an air-gap or spark-gap of suitable length, but also by anon-conducting material, which will usually be in sheet form, preferablya sheet or sheets of mica, as indicated at t'. The two terminals t and tand the insulation 2' may be assembled and inserted in that form in aslot in a block of insulating material, such as I, supported on abase-board B, the terminals and the mica being held in place in anysuitable manneras, for example, by means of a pair of screws 5 and 5,passed through the block I and binding against the sides of theterminals 75 and t. These screws may constitute binding-posts forconductors, such as 6 and 6, the ends of which may be looped around theshanks of the screws in the usual manner, these conductors forming inthis case part of a local circuit which will be closed by a main orcontrolling circuit in a manner similar to the closing of a localcircuit by an ordinary relay govern ed by a m ainline or controllingcircuit. Preferably the insulating material or mica 'i will extendslightly beyond the eudsIof the conductingterminals t and t in order toassure the perfect separation and insulation of such terminals.

As beforestated,thecontactsjust described constitute the local-circuitterminals of a relay, the main-circuit contact of which will be governedby a suitable controlling device and will preferably be operated by ameter included in the controlling-circuit, said meter, and hence themain-circuit contact of the relay, being governed by changes either inthe voltage or in the amperage of the current flowing through thecircuit or by variations in the resistance of the conducting paththrough which such current flows. In the present case, however, themeter employed is a galvanometer forming part of a device fordetermining the resistance of the controlling-circuit, and hence therelay embodies in its construct-ion a galvanometer and also a localcircuit controller the movements of which are determined by suchgalvanometer, this local-circuit controller moving in the present casein synchronism with the galvaerases nometer-needle and being preferablysubstam tially of the construction shown herein at t. This terminal t",it will be observed, has for its center or pivot the pivot of thegalvanometer-needle and is therefore very sensitively poised and verylight. Hence it has but slight inertia to retard its movement when acurrent passes through the coils of the galvanometer, and it willrespond to such flow of current and will be deflected in exactly thesame mannet as the needle n of the galvanometer G. This terminal i maybe of any suitable conducting material, such as copper, and may be ofany shape desired, but will preferably be formed from a strip orcontact-arm forked .at its contact end and bent upon itself to form asubstantially U-shaped member, the two contact-points 10 and 10 of whichwill be spaced at an interval approximately equal to lthat between theends of the contact-terminals t and i. Hence when said contact 6",swings to the position shown in the drawings ;it Will not engage theseparated terminals of: the local circuit, but will lie adjacent there-;to and will be so close to said terminals that the length of theair-gap or spark-gap separating the latter will be reduced to such ianextent that the current in the local circuit will jump the gap and forma spark-contact which will complete the local circuit, .the heatedparticles of the gas or air at the gap and the metallic particles ofvapor separated from the terminals by sparking serving to maintain thecircuit until the arm I. is .withdrawn to a point where the resistanceof :the spark-gap will be so great that the current in the local circuitwill no longer be able to rupture the same and produce a disruptivejdischarge between the local-circuit terminals. This arm t may beinsulated from the needle 12 by a strip of mica m, to which said partsmay be riveted.

The local circuit in which the terminals t ;and i" are included willpreferably be a hightension one capable of producing and maintaining aspark of considerable length between said terminals, and in the presentin stance the conductors 6 and 6', connected to these terminals, areconnected in circuit with the secondary winding of a step-up transformerT, the primary of which may be connected to the line-wires 7 and 7 of anordinary incandescent-light circuit deriving current from a dynamo, asshown at D.

The local-circuit controller of the relay, and hence the meter by whichit is governed, may be controlled in any proper manner, but preferablywill be operated by an electrical testing instrument connected in thecontrolling-circuit and responsive to every variation in the flow orstrength of the current or in the resistance of the circuit, accordingto the character of the instrument. In this case, hoWever,tl1e testinginstrument is a galvanometer placed in the bridge-wire 15 of an electricbalance, such as the lVheatstone bridge, this bridge being connected tothe conductors IIO 8 and 8 of the controlling-circuit, which alsoincludes'a source of energy or battery I) and a conductor 8", both ofthe conductors 8' and 8 being grounded in the present instance. One ofthe arms of the bridge, which bridge is designated by- \V, has the usualknown resistance r therein, while the opposite arm of the bridgecontains the unknown or variable resistance r. This unknown resistancewill usually be gradually intercalated into the circuit either by handor automatically, as may be required, and the contact t" may be set tocomplete the local circuit when the needle it reaches any predeterminedpoint on the galvanometer-scale, it being set usually so as to makethelocal circuit when the galvanometerneedle reaches the zero-point andthe resistances in the bridge-circuit are balanced.

It will be obvious that the, making of the local circuit will take placeinstantaneously on the arrival of the contact if at the desired pointand that a suitable translating device, such as a solenoid 8, maybeoperated also instantaneously to effect a corresponding movement of anyother part (not shown) which it may be desired to actuate with greatcertainty and rapidity.

As all of the devices herein described either operate or are operatedelectrically, and as there is no part which is dependent to any materialextent upon the movement or sweep of a mechanically-operating elementfor its proper movement, it will be evident that my improved controllingmeans is especially adapted for use wherever it is desired to actuateanymember practically instantaneously when the moment for operating thesame has arrived and that fact has been indicated by the device orcircuit which controls the same.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The combination, with anelectric circuit having a pair of terminals separated by aspark-gap, ofacontrolling device associated with and supported for movement relativeto said terminals for varying the resistance of said spark-gap andproducing a disruptive discharge between said terminals.

2. The combination, with an electric circuit having a pair of terminalsseparated by a spark-gap, of an automatic controlling device associatedwith and supported for movement relative to said terminals for varyingthe resistance of said spark-gap and producing a disruptive dischargebetween said terminals;

3. The combination, with a local circuit having a pair of terminalsseparated by a spark-gap, of a controlling-circuit, and a controllingdevice governed by said controllingcircuit and supported for movementrelative to said terminals for varying the resistance of said spark-gapand producing a disruptive discharge between said terminals of the localcircuit.

4:. w The combination, with a local circuit having a pair of terminalsseparated by a spark-gap, of a controlling-circuit, and a controllingdevice included in said controllingcircuit and supported for movementrelative to said terminals for varying the resistance of said spark-gapand producing a disruptive discharge between said terminals of the localcircuit. I

5. The combination, with a local circuit having a pair of terminalsseparated by a spark-gap, of acontrolling-circuit; an electric bridge insaid controlling-circuit; and a galvanometer in the bridge-circuit andcontrolling the passage of a disruptive discharge between saidterminalsof the local circuit.

6. The combination, with a local circuit having a pair of terminalsseparated by a spark-gap, of a'controlling-circuit; an electric bridgein said controlling-circuit; a galvanometer in the bridge-circuit; and aspark forming device controlled by said galvanometer and in position forproducing a disruptive discharge between said terminals of the localcircuit on the balancing of the resistances of the bridge-circuit.

7. The combination, with a local circuit having a pair of terminalsseparated by a spark-gap, of a controlling-circuit; a linecircuit; atransformer the primary winding of which is included in saidline-circuit and the secondary of which is included in said localcircuit; and a controlling device governed by said controlling-circuitand supported for movement relative to said terminals for varying'theresistance of said sparkgap and producinga disruptive discharge betweensaid terminals of the local circuit.

8. The combination, with a high-tension local circuit having a pair ofterminals separated by a spark-gap, of a translating device in saidlocal circuit; a controlling-circuit; and a controlling device governedby said controlling-circuit and supported for movement relative to saidterminals for varying the resistance of said spark-gap and producing adisruptive discharge between said terminals of the local circuit.

9. A spark-relay having a pair of local-cir cuit terminals separated bya spark-gap and also having a local-circuit controller associated withand movable relatively to said ter minals forvarying the resistance ofsaid spark-gap and producing a disruptive discharge between saidlocal-circuit terminals.

10. A spark-relay having a pair of local-circuit terminals separated byinsulating material and' also by a spark-gap, said relay also having alocal-circuit controller associated with and movable relatively to saidtermi- IIO nals for varying the resistance of said sparkgap andproducing a disruptive discharge between said local-circuit terminals.

11. A spark-relay having a pair oflocal-cir- Y associated withandmovable relatively to.

said terminals for varying the resistance of said spark-gap andproducing a disruptive discharge between said local-circuit terminals.

12. A spark-relay having a pair of local-circuit terminals separated bya sheet of mica and also bya sparkgap, said relay also having alocal-circuit controller associated with and movable relatively to saidterminals for; varying the resistance of said spark-gap and producing ajdisruptive discharge between said local-circuit terminals.

13. A spark-relay havinga pair of local-circuit terminals separated by aspark-gap and alsolhaving a movable forked 1ocal-circuit' controller forproducing a disruptive discharge between said loeal-circuit terminals.

14. A spark-relay having a pair of local-circuit terminals separated bya spark-gap and also having a movable substantially U-' shapedlocal-circuit controller for producing a disruptive discharge betweensaid localcircuit terminals.

15. A spark-relay having a pair of local-circuit terminals separated bya spark-gap and also having a movable contact-arm the end of which isbent upon itself to form an integral U-shaped local-circuit controllerfor produe inga disruptive discharge between said localcircuitterminals.

16. A spark-relay having a pair of local-circuit terminals separated bya spark-gap and also embodying a galvanonieter having a local-circuitcontroller movable in unison with the galvanometer-needle and operativefor producing a disruptive discharge between said local-circuitterminals.

RICHARD VARLEY, JR.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. Down, 0. S. CHAMPION.

